Feral Jundi

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Industry Talk: DynCorp International Awarded Mentoring And Training Contract In Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk,Training — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:41 PM

   Boy, that is 275 more jobs for contractors out there, not to mention the support crew required to run the thing, and that is great news. It will not be great news, if the service given sucks.  So if anyone at DC headquarters is reading this, please do not cut corners on implementing this contract, and definitely take care of your people.  The Afghani MoD deserves better, the US taxpayer deserves a good value for their dollar, and your IC’s definitely deserve all the support and assistance that you can give them. You have a real opportunity with each and every contract you win, to promote all that is good with your company by delivering a quality service or product.

   Every time a company wins a contract in this war, I continue to think back about what Eeben Barlow mentioned with his company. DynCorp should be thankful for every contract it wins, and certainly show it’s gratitude by delivering on it’s promises and giving a quality service. Here is the quote from Eeben’s blog:

Question- Why was EO (Executive Outcomes) so successful and what makes EO so different from today’s PMCs? 

Eeben Barlow- My answers were that EO had to earn its contracts as it did not have any government-backing from SA – as you know today’s PMCs are mainly government-backed. Secondly, EO was contracted to win wars in as short a period as possible at the least cost.

    Most of all, you guys should be applying Kaizen to all aspects of your operations, and never just assume that everything is going peachy.  Get some shared reality Mr. Ballhaus, and see for yourself what is going on out there.  I would also suggest getting some ‘mystery employee’ action going on, so you can further explore the efficiencies and inefficiencies of your company, and correct what you can. Or you can actually reach out to your contractors, and listen to what they have to say.  People will support, what they help to create, and the company needs to make that first step in order to get that feedback.  Just some ideas. –Matt

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DynCorp International Awarded Mentoring and Training Contract in Afghanistan

February 17, 2010

FALLS CHURCH, Va.–The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) has awarded DynCorp International (NYSE:DCP) a $232.4 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract to assist the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A) and NATO Training Mission (NTM) by providing mentors and trainers to develop the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense (MOD.) This new contract has a 2-year base period valued at $157.8 million, including a 60-day Phase-In period to full performance. The total potential contract value is $232.4 million if the one year option period is exercised.

“We are honored to have this opportunity to contribute to the security transition in Afghanistan”

Under this Afghanistan Ministry of Defense Program Support contract, DynCorp International will provide dedicated in-depth mentoring, training, subject matter expertise, and programmatic support to CSTC-A staff and the Afghanistan MOD. The program supports development of organizational capacity and capability to assist Afghanistan MOD and Afghan National Army (ANA) forces in assuming full responsibility for their own security needs. DynCorp International will provide an estimated 275 qualified personnel to support the CSTC-A staff across numerous functional areas.

“We are honored to have this opportunity to contribute to the security transition in Afghanistan,” said DynCorp International President and CEO William L. Ballhaus. “This new contract builds on our extensive in-country experience training and advising the Afghan National Police, as we support the U.S. government’s efforts to bring security and stability to Afghanistan.”

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Pakistan: Security Companies In Pakistan On Rise But At Risk

Filed under: Industry Talk,Jundism,Kaizen,Pakistan — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 7:18 AM

     Low pay, long-hour duty and no training negatively influence the morale of the guards who fail to satisfy the clients.

    “I am continuously paying private security companies and changing guards, but now I feel obliged to arrange personal employees instead of hiring from a company as it failed me,” said a business man. 

*****

   I read through this report on private security companies in Pakistan, and my first impression is that these companies are in dire need of some Jundism. But really, this puts into perspective why so many blog reports and fears were being stirred about foreign security companies in Pakistan.  I think that propaganda was fueled by competitors who fear a foreign company coming in and doing a better job of security.

   But back to the rise of private security in Pakistan.  The company that figures out that treating your employees well, and providing kick ass customer service and satisfaction, will be the company that wins the most contracts.  The best guards will gravitate towards your company, because you are doing all the things necessary to attract quality people and maintain your contracts.  Companies that apply Kaizen to all aspects of their operation and employee/contractor development, will certainly enjoy dominance in the market place. –Matt

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Security companies in Pakistan on rise but at risk

by Imdad Hussain, Yangtze Yan

    ISLAMABAD, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — As the demand for private guards in the terror-torn Pakistan especially in Islamabad is on the rise, many of the private security companies in the country are focusing more on making money than providing adequate services.

    Clients in the capital city complain that the private security companies are ignoring the quality of their employees, adding that some companies are not well qualified and their employees not well trained while several companies even enter into illegal operation for profits.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Industry Talk: The Disposable Worker

Filed under: Industry Talk,Jundism,Kaizen — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 7:43 AM

    Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, says the brutal recession has prompted more companies to create just-in-time labor forces that can be turned on and off like a spigot. “Employers are trying to get rid of all fixed costs,” Cappelli says. “First they did it with employment benefits. Now they’re doing it with the jobs themselves. Everything is variable.” That means companies hold all the power, and “all the risks are pushed on to employees.”

***** 

   I read this story, and I thought they were talking about our industry. lol. Seriously though, this is a great read, and it brings up some issues that definitely apply to us.

   The only thing we really have going for us, is that security needs go up, when wars, crime, and disasters go up.  So with this recession and all the wars we are in, there will continue to be a need for professional security folks.

   But as an observer of the industry over the years, salaries have definitely gone down, qualifications have gone up, demand for jobs has been steady, and benefits are pretty scarce. Oh, and there really is no loyalty to companies.

   The companies involved with security operations are doing the exact same things mentioned in this article, and they are creating the exact kind of results within their disposable workforce they contract.  It may save them money and fatten up the wallets of the corporate leadership, but what a short sighted concept of business?  You are creating a workforce community who could care less about company loyalty or customer service and satisfaction.

    When I hear companies complain about high turn over or quality control problems that lead to defaults on contract, I think to myself, what did you expect?  If you don’t value your people, then why would your people value anything that you care about? It is a cycle that has been created over the years, and both the companies and contractors will always look at each other as ‘us versus them’, and not ‘we’. Until companies take that first step of true leadership and compassion for their people, this cycle will only continue.

   I also think that applying some Jundism will actually save a company more money in the future, get them more contracts, help them to hang on to their current contracts longer, and all of that will help them to destroy the competition and make them more profitable.  But that is just my opinion. –Matt

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The Disposable Worker

January 7, 2010

Pay is falling, benefits are vanishing, and no one’s job is secure. How companies are making the era of the temp more than temporary

By Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin and Moira Herbst

On a recent Tuesday morning, single mom Tammy DePew Smith woke up in her tidy Florida townhouse in time to shuttle her oldest daughter, a high school freshman, to the 6:11 a.m. bus. At 6:40 she was at the desk in her bedroom, starting her first shift of the day with LiveOps, a Santa Clara (Calif.) provider of call-center workers for everyone from Eastman Kodak (EK) and Pizza Hut (YUM) to infomercial behemoth Tristar Products. She’s paid by the minute—25 cents—but only for the time she’s actually on the phone with customers.

By 7:40, Smith had grossed $15. But there wasn’t much time to reflect on her early morning productivity; the next child had to be roused from bed, fed, and put onto the school bus. Somehow she managed to squeeze three more shifts into her day, pausing only to homeschool her 7-year-old son, make dinner, and do the bedtime routine. “I tell my kids, unless somebody is bleeding or dying, don’t mess with me.”

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Leadership: Disciplinary Policy, Handy Dandies and the Three Strikes Principle

Filed under: Kaizen,Leadership — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:27 PM

    This article is about a better disciplinary policy for companies. The reason I am bringing this up, is because most of these multi-million dollar defense companies that put security contractors out in these war zones, have absolutely terrible disciplinary policies.  Their leaders out in the field have their hands tied, and often are unable to be effective in keeping control of their troops and maintaining order on the contract. It seems that most contracts have no middle ground when it comes to discipline.  You either do well, or you are fired and sent home, and then replaced by someone else. Or they don’t do anything at all about poor performing contractors. Pffft.  I believe my system is more economical, more effective for maintaining control, and provides a better way of doing business.

     So this is what I think the companies should set up.  It is purely my opinion and based on my experiences as a contractor, former Marine, and former Smokejumper.  It is also based on my management experience in all three occupations.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Israel: ‘Hizbullah Had Better Intel Than Israel’ -Second Lebanon War

Filed under: Israel,Kaizen — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 11:47 PM

   A bitter pill to swallow, but overall this is healthy for an organization.  I would be interested to see the same metrics applied to the Gaza campaign as well.

   And on another note, this would be something to remember for the security contracting industry.  The methodology sounds simple and straight forward, and could possibly be applied to company operations or incidents.  The point being is that we might be able to learn something from the Israeli version of Kaizen. –Matt

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‘Hizbullah had better intel than Israel in 2006’

Sep. 29, 2009

Yaakov Katz

THE JERUSALEM POST

Hizbullah had better intelligence information than Israel and better control of its forces during the Second Lebanon War, according to an official IDF scorecard compiled recently by a top navy officer.

The article – which was given an award by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi – was written by Lt.-Col. Robi Sandman, and was published in the latest edition of Ma’arahot, a monthly journal on military issues.

During his research for the article, titled “How the Arabs are preparing for the next war,” Sandman asked 24 senior IDF officers to grade the army and Hizbullah in 10 categories, on a scale of 1 to 10.

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